birthdays have always been just a regular day for seungwan, but turning 16? 16 is an exciting time for every teen, it’s a phase of life that everyone looks forward to and it’s the turning point for most. seungwan hasn’t been excluded. she’s been bursting with excitement at the mere thought of it for weeks as much as she tries to hide it. and it didn’t help that seulgi, her best friend, or rather, her only friend, had her birthday a couple of days earlier than her.

seulgi, being slightly older than seungwan, had already received the gift of the universe — the first words her soulmate will ever say to her tattooed permanently on her wrist.

now that 11 days have passed, it’s seungwan’s turn. between the two of them, seulgi’s the social butterfly, she made friends with everyone including both seniors and juniors from all over school, the teachers and even that random kid’s mom. seungwan, on the other hand, though a kind person at heart, is shy beyond belief. her social skills are terrible at best and honestly, being friends with seulgi for almost her entire life should’ve helped. but by some unlucky miracle, her skills are just as bad as when she first met seulgi — maybe even worse. she earns the title of being the nice and quiet girl in class pretty easily. not like she minds either way, she enjoys her books and video games more than she did people, seulgi’s the only exception.

so turning 16 would be a quiet affair for her, though it didn’t feel right without her best friend sleeping over and binging a few movies. the duo lounges on seungwan’s bed with a laptop and a bowl of popcorn between them, chatting through their second movie of the night — but it’s mostly just seulgi making stupid comments much to seungwan’s annoyance. and almost as abruptly as she had entered seungwan’s life, seulgi roughly nudges her, pointing towards the clock hanging on the wall in seungwan’s nerd cave.

“one minute to go, wannie! are you excited?" seulgi beams widely, shaking her poor friend who was in the midst of swallowing some popcorn.

seungwan’s eyes widen as she feels a kernel make its way down and she reaches for her can of fizzy soda to push it down to her gut, “wouldn’t be very exciting if you killed me before i even see my tattoo." she chokes in a deadpan tone, clutching her chest as the pain slowly fades.

seulgi could only toss her a cheeky smile while wrapping her in a side hug,  “hehe …“

the clock shows that it’s a little past midnight when seungwan finally collects herself. most days she thinks love is for fools, but today, she’s still more than excited to see what her tattoo could be. she prays with all her might that she wouldn’t end up with a simple ‘hey’ or ‘hello’ but something more romantic, or cooler.

seulgi’s tattoo is a little unnerving to say the least, but it’s still much cooler than a basic greeting.

“yah! hurry up! i’m curious!“ her best friend nudges her once again, though a little less aggressively this time.

seungwan rolls her eyes and groans, “i’m getting to it, stop yelling!"

the younger girl lifts up her arms, wrists covered by the sleeves of the matching pyjamas that the best friends have decided to wear in celebration of her 16th birthday. with her heart rate rising in anticipation, she pulls down her left sleeve to reveal plain skin. wrong side, she huffs, the universe is really making her feel stupid already.

pulling down her right sleeve, she sees the first words her soulmate will say etched into her skin.

there’s silence for a split second before seulgi snorts loudly, which turns into a burst of full-blown laughter at the expense of seungwan’s luck. the birthday girl, on the other hand, is stunned into silence.

son seungwan, the quietest but sweetest girl to ever exist, has never let a curse word leave her tongue.

until now.

“what the actual ?”

“language! son seungwan!” seulgi somehow still manages to shove the smaller girl in the midst of attempting to wipe tears from her eyes.

“i don’t give a about language right now, seul! literally, the bar was on the floor! when i meant anything but ‘hi’ or ‘hey’, i didn’t mean bull like this!” seungwan explodes in a fit of rage all while glaring at the words that have made its home on her skin.

“it’s kinda cute if you think about it, no?” seulgi has to bite back a laugh because seungwan is pissed — and seungwan is never angry, even if she’s playing with utter idiots in her video games.

she turns to seulgi with an incredulous look plastered on her face, her jaw drops and eyebrows furrow in anger, “what the does kiyub mean?”

“kiyub!” seulgi exclaims with an innocent look on her face, even in her anger, seungwan could see the underlying cuteness the word contained.

and said cuteness did help dissipate her anger slightly, huffing indignantly, the image of the word burns deeply into her mind. as cute as it could potentially sound, the design of it is more mocking than anything.

comic sans — the bane of her existence.

it’s a five-letter word that takes up the entire width of her right wrist, of course, it has to be big and bolded. but comic sans? this is too much. 

did the universe really take her for a fool? are they serious? does she have to put on her clown shoes and a big red nose that goes honk honk?

pulling down her sleeves with newfound despair, she leans into seulgi’s attempt at comfort. seungwan likes to think that seulgi is a personified teddy bear, her best friend gives good hugs and though a good hug won’t change the words on her wrist, they do make her feel a little less of a clown.

“i swear, if my soulmate isn’t as cute as you, i want a refund.”

“you might as well start processing it now because you won’t find anyone like me. i heard it’ll take three working days for god to receive your prayers.”

“we both know god-sunbaenim will ignore me but retattoo kiyub but in a script font.” seungwan groans loudly, knowing her luck, this scenario is more than likely if it is to even happen in the first place.

“oooh, fancy kiyub.” seulgi teases, “kiyub~” she tries the word again while enunciating every syllable slowly, seungwan could only smack her best friend in annoyance.

seulgi cries out in mock pain and pouts,  “ow! what’s wrong with kiyub?” trying the word in a higher tone once again.

“you’re really asking for it, aren’t you? you’re dying for it!” seungwan growls as she tackles seulgi, hands on the older girl’s neck within seconds.

“kiyub! kiyub!”

“i’ll make sure you never meet your soulmate if you don’t shut up, kang seulgi!”

“...”

“...”

“… kiyub.”

“that’s it!”

the rest of son seungwan’s high school life passes by relatively uneventfully unless you consider graduating a big life event. it’s just another phase that everyone has to go through, so it didn’t feel like a special occasion or anything. her soulmate tattoo takes a backseat in her head for the years to come, the initial excitement fades quickly due to her peculiar tattoo. she doubts she’ll find them this quickly anyway, who in their right mind would say ‘kiyub’ anyway?

after their finals, seungwan has more free time than she knows what to do with it. under seulgi’s insistence, she offers her brains to the little s in her school — little s being the juniors that seulgi have somehow befriended. how seulgi still manages to make friends despite her busy schedules is an enigma seungwan will never comprehend.

it starts small, just one or two that she actually recognises, then word spread that this kind and smart senior is coaching juniors. then, it turns into a group of ten bombarding her with questions that they should probably ask their teachers. eventually, there's too many of them and seungwan has to call it a day before she's mobbed by a bunch of desperate students.

oh, but she never really did have lady luck on her side. the universe loves to make a fool out of her.

seungwan sits at the empty cafeteria, mindlessly scrolling through a forum for her current obsession of a game, waiting for seulgi to be done with her dance club activities so they could go home together. it's normal for seniors to continue helping out post graduation and everyone knows seulgi is more than dedicated, it's almost as if she lived in the dance studio.

"hey."

a voice catches her attention but not enough to pull her eyes away from her phone. the harsh tone signalled to her that it isn't seulgi and she's not one to give attention to random strangers.

"hey." a forceful hand claps down on her shoulder and sends pain all the way down her shoulder blades, while the impact causes her phone to fall to the ground with a loud smack, "you're the nerdy senior that teaches right?"

seungwan holds back a wince as she bends down to pick up her phone, dusting it and inspecting it for cracks. she's prepared to lash out at the person who has so rudely interrupted her peace and quiet.

a tall — well, compared to seungwan she would be gigantic, girl, stands behind her intimidatingly. she might be the quiet nerd but standing up for herself isn’t the hardest thing to do in the world but the chances and her courage to do so have dwindled over the years. something about the look in her eyes told seungwan that it would be a good idea to listen to everything she says.

"did you hear me? are you still teaching?" the girl snaps her fingers in seungwan's face to get her attention.

the girl, probably a year or two younger, is unsurprisingly fierce and annoyed. seungwan knows these types of students pretty well, they don't usually study and they mostly leave her to her nerd as most would call it.

the nerdy girl breaks out of her haze and shakes her head, "i told everyone that today would be the last lesson, there's too many—"

"are you serious? come on, at least continue until i'm done with my exams."

"no means no, if i tutor you, it wouldn't be fair to the others."

seungwan didn't know where she found the courage to deny the younger girl but for a moment, she's glad she did. but the feeling is ephemeral when the girl narrows her eyes and glares at her.

her bravery turns into a quiet squeak as the younger girl grabs her by the collar, lifting her almost a little too easily while leaning a little closer,  “say it again, i didn't hear you." she hisses menacingly while narrowing her eyes.

seungwan avoids her angry gaze at all costs, her brain working in overdrive to figure out an escape plan. her eyes happen to land on the girl's wrist where her tattoo is embedded and she almost snorts at what it says but holds it back because snorting right now would mean a certain death. man, she's scary, whoever's her soulmate must have worse luck than her.

"i need you to tutor me, or else!"

"i–"

"yah! you little !"

wait a minute … why did that sentence sound oddly familiar? linking its familiarity to the sound of seulgi's voice didn't feel right. in her confusion and to her relief, the girl lets her go, albeit a little rougher than she likes.

kang seulgi is truly her saviour.

her eyes light up as she watches seulgi storm over to them with every intent to protect her best friend but the tall girl seems shocked, like she's reached an epiphany over hearing seulgi's voice.

"i'm going to ing kill you!" the girl suddenly yells after a quick glance at her wrist.

and then seungwan connects the dots. the girl whose soulmate is supposedly cursed with worse luck than her — is her best friend.

seulgi freezes in her step and lifts her hand as well, her gaze flits from her wrist to the giant and then to seungwan.

seungwan's eyes are about to pop out from their sockets but she stares nervously at the two new soulmates. she should be happy, right? seulgi's soulmate is standing right in front of her.

but said soulmate has also just threatened her, so is it still a good thing? maybe not exactly?

"i can't believe your first ing words are 'yah! you little !' like are you kidding me? i have to live with this tattoo on my wrist for the rest of my life! do you know how stupid i sound when anyone asks what my tattoo says?" the girl yells accusingly as she continues to glare at seulgi.

the stunned bear-like girl acts like a fish out of water, opens and closes while she struggles to find the right words, "as if ‘i’m going to ing kill you!’ is a nicer tattoo to have!" seulgi retorts incredulously after a prolonged silence.

the funny thing about soulmates is everyone pictures the moment they hear their soulmates, but not the first words that they’ll say. the tension is heavy in the air and seungwan watches in fear and apprehension, what's next? merely watching the two stare each other in the eyes is enough to create a harrowing atmosphere and she contemplated slinking away from the new pair of soulmates before it’s too late.

"i'm sooyoung."

"seulgi."

"i need your friend to tutor me."

"okay, wannie, you heard that?"

seungwan nods in agreement to hearing seulgi — not in agreement to tutoring this girl, sooyoung, who was holding her up by her collar a minute ago.

“wait! no! no i will not tutor you!”

“you literally nodded!”

“back me up, seul.”

seulgi, being caught between the devil and the deep blue sea, has to choose the lesser evil here. considering how sooyoung was threatening seungwan, she decides that it would be okay to sacrifice her best friend to her demon of a soulmate for now. it’d probably be easier to make up to seungwan than to appease and chase after her little .

“sorry wannie, you did agree.”

"wait what? aren’t you supposed to be on my side?”

“… love knows no bounds?”

kang seulgi had just stabbed her in the back — wait no, front. has she really been betrayed by her best friend within mere seconds of meeting her soulmate?

"wow, i think i love you already." sooyoung smirks.

"you're still a little for bullying my wannie." seulgi huffs.

"your wannie?"

"don't be jealous, you can be my little ."

seungwan couldn't believe her ears, are they really doing this? right now? right in front of her? she resists all urge to throw up here and now, if this is what seulgi is going to be like with her soulmate, she might just lose her best friend.

"you're both little s,"  seungwan deadpans, "go make out in the toilet or something, i'm going home."

"i'll get your number from seulgi, thanks wannie." sooyoung winks as she turns her attention to her new soulmate who has the dopiest smile plastered on her face.

the universe just loves to torment her, especially when it comes to soulmates.

tattoos were always a little weird to joohyun. she isn't exactly sure how it begins, like do you just fall for them after hearing them for the first time? does the attraction come as quickly and unsuspecting as her tattoo? she has no idea how love works despite never having the lack of it, so many people have confessed to her over the years, but it feels like all their love combined could never make up for her missing soulmate. still, she remains hopeful, she has a whole lifetime to wait for those words to be said as strange as it might sound.

meeting people used to be fun until they started judging her for her looks instead of her personality. funny how those who knew her the least have the most to say.

if there's anyone everyone knew on campus, it'd be bae joohyun. the psychology senior who's in her final year of university also happens to be a decently popular instagram model. the modelling started as a favour for her roommate's soulmate, then more and more photographers came to her and thus, she garnered quite the following. it stays more of a hobby and part-time job than anything. the mild fame took a little getting used to but she eventually got desensitized to the comments, if people loved her, great. if they didn't, then well, they didn't. 

for the most part, she keeps a low profile despite all the attention, her grades and private life remain unaffected by all the buzz, so she didn't really mind, it just meant that a couple more people would point fingers when she travels around campus and well, in public too. but keeping it lowkey, isn’t as easy as it sounds, there's one key factor to keeping it this way and that is to stay away from social situations she had no control in, mainly parties. most of the time, she's stuck to it, but she likes to make an exception during the festive seasons.

and when word got out joohyun only went for certain parties? all hell broke loose and she pretty much stayed away from partying until her roommate, kim yongsun, convinced her to attend one last party as some sort of a final hurrah. it’s their final year anyway, after that, they couldn’t be reckless teenagers anymore.

getting into university was a breeze, a new school year begins with bare minimal social interactions because seungwan always has a hard time adjusting to new environments. being alone is and probably will always be the norm for her.

hanging out alone with seulgi becomes a rare occurrence because sooyoung is literally always with her and god forbids her to stomach this horrible married couple’s antics. sometimes they would flirt incessantly in the dorm that she shared with seulgi despite her blatant disgust, other times, they would argue as if the world’s about to end, if it did, they would be the cause of it. it’s a coin flip every time she decides to hang out with them, but she does so anyway because it’s not like she has any other choice.

the first year of university passes relatively smoothly, her grades are good — but seulgi disagrees, it’s more than good, she’s top in almost every class. still, it’s good to have a small handful of friends, well, two to be exact, seulgi and sooyoung, it’s a little depressing but less distracting. 

but her sociable best friend has other plans for her.

“c’mon wannie,” seulgi whines while poking seungwan in the arm, lying on her stomach on seungwan's bed, attempting to convince her little nerd of a friend to attend a new year's eve party, “just one party!”

“i said no, seul, i don’t wanna go to a loud party where people will probably puke on me.” seungwan grumbles as she turns her attention back to the anime she has decided to watch to tune out her best friend’s incessant whining.

“you can’t say you’ve been to university when you’ve never even been to a party, come on!” the graphic design major continues to tug at seungwan’s sleeves, knowing well that if she keeps this up, she’ll give in eventually.

“no, now leave me alone, i can’t focus with your whining!”

“you might meet kiyub,” her best friend offers in an almost hopeful tone.

kiyub — has turned into an inside joke for the two, since seungwan has never had any sort of romantic interest about anyone or gender, so seulgi settled on calling her soulmate ‘kiyub’.

“well, kiyub can kiyub off.” the introvert hisses shortly.

“it’s either this party or i’m calling sooyoung to come over and we can make out for hours.” seulgi reveals her trump card with a gleeful smirk, adding kissing noises like icing on a cake.

seungwan slams her spacebar with a little too much force, she’d rather deal with the loud music of a party than the barf-inducing sounds of two wet lips meeting over and over. without another word, she moves over to her wardrobe to pick something that doesn’t scream loser.

within an hour, the two best friends are on the doorstep of one of seulgi’s many friends’ houses and from what seungwan gathers, it’s probably a senior. she swears she’ll get back at seulgi … someday … but it’s not like she’s taken revenge for the whole tutoring sooyoung incident … yet.

the scene looks like any other typical party, except with a little more people than she’s comfortable to be around. loud music blares from within the house and even with the door closed, it can still be heard from the outside. she feels the loud bass pounding in her chest the moment seulgi yanks her into the crowded living room and seungwan holds onto her for dear life.  groups of people hang all around the house with the scent of alcohol and cigarettes lingering in the air. as much as she regrets her choice, just the mere thought of seulgi and sooyoung making out convinces her that this is a better option — it has to be.

all she has to do is make it through the night and everything will be alright.

seulgi drags her mercilessly through heaps of people while greeting each and everyone of them, is there anyone that seulgi didn’t know? they reach a room near the back where a crowd of people chants ‘chug! chug! chug!’. seulgi tosses a mischievous look to seungwan before raising their hands and joining in the chaos. it probably slipped seulgi’s mind that seungwan’s a little too short to see anything.

it takes a while but the crowd eventually combines into one loud cheer, assuming whoever that’s being hyped up is done with whatever challenge. seungwan snaps back into reality as if she hadn’t spent the last couple of minutes zoning out and wishing she was still back in the safety of her dorm. seulgi pushes her way through the crowd with her in tow. upon reaching the eye of the storm, seungwan finally sees a scrawny girl wiping with the back of her hand as she tosses an empty bottle to the carpeted floor.

“byulyi-unnie!” seulgi shouts excitedly over the loud music, leaving seungwan’s side to embrace the girl who has just finished a can of beer, maybe two.

the scrawny girl is about the same height as seulgi, so she’s considered tall in seungwan’s head. then again, most people are considered tall. her most striking feature has to be the bleached blonde hair tucked under a backwards baseball cap, followed by her cheeks which makes her look like a hamster.

“oh, seulgi-ah! glad to see you made it!” the girl slaps seulgi’s back lightly and grins widely, obviously intoxicated but still sober enough to function.

“unnie, meet my best friend, seungwan. wannie, meet byulyi-unnie, one of my seniors.” seulgi smiles widely as she beckons the shy girl to come over, “it’s her first party and i want to introduce her to some new people!”

seulgi isn’t even drunk but she’s already hell bent on embarrassing seungwan. the introvert glares at her best friend while making her way to the semi-drunk blonde senior with a shy smile.

“hi unnie, nice to meet you.”

“seungwan-ah, i’ve heard a lot about you from seulgi, sometimes it slips my mind that her soulmate is sooyoung. wait — where’s my soulmate?” byulyi begins to ramble, okay, maybe she’s a little more drunk than seungwan expects, which is a good thing because then she wouldn't remember how awkward seungwan is.

the blonde girl breaks out of seulgi’s hold and begins stumbling out of the room, yelling at the top of her lungs for a kim yongsun. seulgi merely shrugs as she drags her best friend to follow their drunken senior.

if god is real, please let something good come out of this night, seungwan pleads desperately.

somehow, they end up in the kitchen and byulyi has found her soulmate next to an ethereal being of beauty. 

. 

seungwan’s mind goes blank momentarily as her eyes fall upon the tiny but deadly gorgeous girl that stands next to the supposed kim yongsun. her breathing hitches as she stares unabashedly, mouth turning drier by the second.

“i see kiyub might be a girl then.” seulgi whispers teasingly into her ear, earning a painful elbow to the ribs.

“shut up.” seungwan hisses sharply after swallowing, she’s not about to have her gay awakening at her very first party.

seulgi exchange greetings with the two seniors while byulyi clings onto her soulmate’s side as if they are welded together. the brunette can only offer an apologetic smile to the two younger girls. “sorry, she tends to act like an idiot when she’s drunk. i’m yongsun and that’s joohyun, nice to meet you, seungwan.”

the goddess shoots the two a small smile and seungwan feel the words getting stuck in , she stammers slightly but seulgi decides to save her from making a fool of herself.

“i’ve told them about you,” seulgi informs easily, quickly assuming that seungwan's nervousness came from yongsun knowing her name, “i met them at one of byulyi-unnie’s parties.”

byulyi nods a little too excitedly and the alcohol has affected her senses, she shouts in a voice that’s several decibels too high, “we should recreate that night, seulgi-ah!”

“no and stop yelling, byul-ah, you’re going to make me deaf, idiot.” yongsun chides with annoyance in her voice, from seungwan’s point of view, it looks like yongsun is the younger one but with how they act, it’s hard to tell.

“i’m not an idiot!”

“oh really? check your tattoo, idiot.”

all eyes are on byulyi’s wrist and the word ‘idiot’ is embedded in her skin in a serif font. seungwan can’t help but snort at the hilarity of the situation, it makes her feel a little better about her comic sans tattoo. kiyub might not be all that bad after all.

“glad you find it amusing, seungwan-ah,” byulyi smirks devilishly as she leaves her soulmate’s side to wrap an arm around seungwan’s neck, “now let’s go meet some people, i’ve got a couple of nerd friends you’ll probably like.”

before seungwan could even beg seulgi for help, byulyi is dragging her out of the kitchen to interact with the other partygoers. 

“stick to beer, wannie! i’m not carrying you back to our dorm if you get too drunk!” were seulgi’s last words to her.

if she doesn’t make it out alive, seulgi better not sell her prized figurine collection so she can take sooyoung out for dinner.

joohyun tags along with yongsun and her soulmate, byulyi. it’s a new year’s party hosted by one of the jocks who’s been texting her nonstop for the past month and she’s not sure why she even agreed. hence, she hides away in the kitchen where the music as deafening and she can question her choices for a moment.

“busy night?” yongsun teases as she enters the kitchen to find joohyun hiding away from the rest of the world.

the senior rolls her eyes and huffs indignantly, “i finally managed to dodge daehyun, give me a break.”

“i’m surprised you even said okay to coming.” yong offers a sympathetic smile and a light nudge.

“i’m surprised byulyi isn’t glued to you for the first time.” joohyun retorts while sticking her tongue out and crossing her arms over her chest.

yongsun throws a playful smack at her roommate and shrugs, “i lost her a while ago, i bumped into chorong and i guess byul got bored.”

it doesn’t take more than a second after the words leave her lips to hear her name being yelled across the corridor. yongsun exhales tiredly and turns her attention to the source, but she could never be mad.

“yong! yongsun! kim yongsun!”

byulyi stumbles into the kitchen a few moments later and joohyun sighs, there goes her momentary break. plus, now that the younger girl has stumbled into the kitchen, clearly drunk, she doubts yongsun will be able to protect her from the dreaded jocks.

"good luck, miss kim." joohyun smirks as yongsun begins to chide byulyi.

"don't make me tell daehyun you want to talk." yongsun hisses back sharply.

joohyun purses her lips and her attention turns to the other people who entered with byulyi. she recognised seulgi, one of byulyi's juniors, she helped out with one of her projects before so they weren't exactly strangers.

but she has never seen the small quiet girl next to seulgi, so why is her heart racing?

joohyun doesn't pay much attention to the conversation, she keeps an eye on the soft spoken girl, seungwan's her name and she looked like she didn't want to be here.

that makes the two of them.

byulyi eventually drags the poor girl out while the three continue to chat in the kitchen — the only spot indoors where anyone could hold a proper conversation without yelling.

"she's adorable, why'd you bring her here, seulgi-ah?" yongsun shakes her head with a soft chuckle.

seulgi takes a sip of her drink and sighs, "she needs to experience one party at least, unnie. i can't let her go through all of university in our dorm room." 

"you picked the worst one, any party with joohyun is guaranteed to be a disaster." yongsun jokes.

"yah … what does that mean? even if i wasn't here, she wouldn't want to be here either.“ joohyun clicks her teeth in annoyance and nudges her roommate.

seulgi waves her hand dismissively, “i trust byulyi-unnie to loosen her up a little, she brings out the fun in all of us.”

“there won’t be any fun this time, i confiscated her fireworks beforehand,” yongsun smirks cockily before ushering them back into the crowd that has only grown, “now let's have fun safely.”

the rest of the night ends up being pretty uneventful, she sticks with yong to avoid any and all men but she seemed to bump into byulyi and seungwan no matter where she went.

the younger girl noticed her as well, joohyun feels like she's being watched all night long and let's be honest, seungwan isn't sleek. if she had a dollar for every time she caught the shy girl staring, she'd probably have enough money to take her out.

the senior is used to receiving stares but something about seungwan makes her nervous. it feels like she has to be perfect in her eyes and she didn't want to mess anything up. so she keeps a distance, but as the night draws to an end, her body is filled with a little too much alcohol and she decides she wants to talk to the quiet little girl.

luckily for her, the alcohol had made the party a little more enjoyable as well, so she's in a good mood. joohyun slips into an empty spot in the house in an attempt to sober up but to no avail. she stares blankly at the wall while her mind slowly becomes devoid of any thoughts.

a snap of a finger right in her face causes her to jump in surprise and she exhales sharply once she registered who it is.

"hyun, have you seen byul?" yongsun narrows her eyes as she scans the crowded room, looking for her soulmate.

the senior shakes her head with a shrug, "wasn't she with seulgi's friend?"

"i've searched the entire place, they're not here." yongsun frowns.

joohyun slings an arm around her roommate and sighs,  “maybe she went outside to set off more fireworks."

within a split second, yongsun makes a mad dash for the front door, leaving joohyun in the dust. she lets out an amused smile as she follows in yongsun's trail, half knowing that she’ll more or less be right.

the night passes by almost agonizingly, though with the help of some liquid courage, it becomes more bearable. not like seungwan would admit it to seulgi, because the latter would never let her live it down, but she’s having more fun than she thought she would. byulyi doesn’t let the introvert leave her sight until she’s a little too inebriated to form coherent sentences, so seungwan takes the chance and slips outside to escape the people and music. sitting on the wooden steps porch, she rests her head on the rails as the world spins slowly. there are only a couple people outside, most people are out or having somewhere, both seem grossly unappealing to her.

she’s tipsy but sober. if you asked her to do math, she probably could. but if you asked her to walk in a straight line, well, that could pose a little problem. she stares up into the darkness of the sky, feeling the alcohol make its way through her system. in her drunken haze, she thinks about the various characters she’s met tonight. 

byulyi is loud if anything, but she’s nice and friendly as well, a little like seulgi but a dash more chaotic. yongsun was personable and kind and she could really yell. she also did a shot with this art major who had blue hair, seungwan vaguely remembers her name, maybe it was wheein. there’s a bunch more that she never got the names of and probably wouldn’t even remember tomorrow. it’s fine by her since she’s used to having only two friends.

but then there’s joohyun. god, the way her name sounds in seungwan’s head is enough to make her heart flutter. love at first sight is utter nonsense until she’s the one experiencing it. so what if she did spend some time during the night to spare a few glances at joohyun — maybe not a few glances but more like a few long hard stares that stopped only when joohyun turns to look at her with a slight frown. her gaze is intimidatingly scary and if seungwan isn’t drunk and embarrassed, she’d probably feel a little scared.

the alcohol can’t dull the embarrassment that she feels now, she feels stupid just thinking about her actions and she lets out a heavy sigh. still, on a more positive note, this party’s a fun way to celebrate the new year, she concludes with a small smile.

“are you drunk?” seulgi nudges her while taking a seat on the wooden steps,  “if you puke on me, just know that i’m going to tell sooyoung.”

the introvert barely notices her best friend’s presence but acknowledges her words with a soft grunt. sooyoung didn’t seem so scary when she’s drunk. everything seems duller, like the sharp edges of the world have been rounded off. the world feels like a much nicer place when she’s less sober.

“all the more i’m going to puke on you …” she snorts slowly without moving.

“anyway, just to let you know, joohyun-unnie is single.” her best friend informs in a nonchalant tone and a casual shrug.

hearing the name of the goddess she met earlier that night sobers her up slightly, she sits up and turns to seulgi. “i– i didn’t ask!” she stammers quickly, the heat rushes to her face and she’s unsure if seulgi would notice under the dim lights, if she did, she can always blame it on the drinks she’s had.

“but you want to know,” seulgi jabs her elbow playfully into seungwan’s side while wiggling her eyebrows, “don’t think i didn’t catch you gawking at her all night long!”

seungwan opens to defend herself but no words are spoken, anything she says now will probably be used against her for the rest of her life. she’s been caught with no defense so she opts to huff indignantly instead.

seulgi rolls her eyes and sighs dramatically, “maybe you should try talking to her instead of staring like a weirdo, she looks intimidating but she’s really nice once she warms up to you.”

“seul, you do realise, i only have two friends right?”

“wrong, you made new friends tonight, so now you have more than two.”

“ugh, that’s not the point! point is, i’m never going to talk to joohyun!”

“why not?”

“when have i ever approached anyone?”

“fair point, but if she approaches you?”

“why would she approach a nerd like me? she’s never going to—”

seungwan’s interrupted mid-sentence when byulyi comes charging out of the door with a handful of boxes, hopping over the two girls and narrowly missing their heads. she’s glad she’s a little too tipsy to react because if she is, she’s sure that she would've fainted because of the near-death experience she’s just faced.

“come on, seulgi-ah! there’s only a few minutes left till the new year!” byulyi yells loudly as she runs to the middle of the empty street, “help me set these up before yong murders me!”

seulgi didn’t need to be told twice when she jumps to her feet and accompanies their drunken senior in her chaotic and probably dangerous activities. byulyi really deserves to have ‘idiot’ tattooed on her arm.

yongsun rushes out a few minutes later, yelling and chasing after the two lovable idiots who had already set up the fireworks in the middle of the street. they’re a little too far away for seungwan to pick up what they’re yelling but she catches words like ‘idiots’ and ‘dead’ from yongsun’s lips. she smiles stupidly as she watches the situation unfold, mildly aware that there is a presence standing beside her that didn’t demand her attention.

“ten! nine! eight!” she hears the voices counting down from within the house and out on the streets signalling that a new year is soon upon them.

this is the last way she’d picture herself bringing in the new year, slightly drunk after a night of socializing. to new beginnings, she supposes.

at the count of three, she sees byulyi light up the fireworks despite yongsun’s loud screams. her eyes follow the fireworks as they shoot upwards into the dark heavens, leaving a faint trail of light as they climb higher into the sky. the flares fade and it’s dark for a moment, she waits in anticipation for them to light up the night sky in all their dazzling glory.

“one!”

the cheap store bought pyrotechnics explode in a myriad of colorful lights and they’re accompanied by a series of loud booms.

when seungwan least expects it, she hears the very words she never thought she’d hear for the longest time.

“kiyub!”

time seems to slow down as the fireworks continue to go off, but her attention isn’t on them anymore. turning her head, she sees the very goddess she’s been staring at all night with her eyes shut tightly and her hands covering her ears. 

, that's cute,  seungwan thinks mindlessly.

seungwan could only gaze at the girl standing beside her with a dopey smile, she could physically feel her heart melting into a puddle the longer she stared at the girl. joohyun peeks every once in a while to see if the fireworks have all gone off, like she's forgotten that she can hear when they've stopped. she looks so small and precious when she’s covering her ears like that and seungwan can't pull her eyes away. she lets out a contented sigh and is glad that she didn’t turn seulgi down, otherwise, she would’ve missed this. it's okay if joohyun never talks to her, being able to stare from afar might be a new skill she's developing. 

when the fireworks finally stopped, seungwan snaps her head forward before joohyun could notice her staring for the nth time in the night. in the distance, yongsun can be seen holding her soulmate in a chokehold all while yanking seulgi towards the house by the ear.

"ah, byulyi and seulgi have somehow done it again at this party." the beautiful girl beside her comments with a scared but amused expression on her face.

seungwan freezes at the sound of the goddess’ voice, did she hear right? her voice sounds angelic, smooth like honey and the nerd is a little in awe of how someone’s voice could sound this good. but then, a mild panic begins to set in, joohyun, the girl whose beauty has left her distracted all night, is talking to her. like forming proper sentences, like making casual conversation — with her.

“are you okay?”

oh god, she really is.

in her newfound state of sobriety, every word the goddess has said etches itself in her mind, a sudden realisation hits her.

kiyub.

her legs begin moving on their own accord and she almost sprints towards seulgi. good call on her body to escape the situation before her brain takes a trip to clown town. there's no way she's doing this now, nope! her heart is pounding too rapidly and god, she feels like throwing up. a mix of excitement and fear bubbles in the pit of her stomach and she hauls her best friend away with surprising strength and determination.

joohyun is left standing on the porch while she watches the younger girl leave with her best friend and wonders if they'll ever meet again.

“what did you do, unnie?” byulyi inquires curiously despite being dragged by the ear by her soulmate.

joohyun furrows her eyebrows and shrugs, “i just asked if she was okay."

"bae joohyun scaring someone off? seems normal." yongsun chimes in with a sarcastic smirk.

the senior rolls her eyes and attempts to hit yongsun but byulyi is much faster, getting in the way of the two before anything serious happens.

looks like this year is going to be more interesting than she thought.